Kunoichi no Renkinjutsushi
by Annamae Tezuka
Summary: East of Xing is a small country, raided with conflict and warlords. On the orders of the one who annihilated the rest of her clan, an unwilling assassin is sent to kill Amestris's State Alchemists.
1. Chapter 1

"Miyaki, you're the last of the Shinagawa clan. Either you obey my orders, or disgrace the name of your clan by dying right here," the ornately dressed, chubby, now angry Imperial Official, second in command to the Emperor, snarled. The person he was addressing, a girl with jet black hair and piercing ice blue eyes, showed equal, if not greater, anger and resentment. She was wearing the traditional shinobi robes of a purple kimono top, sandals bound with bandages, so they didn't fall off when running, and gloves that started around the middle finger and ended at the elbow. Her long hair was tied in a high ponytail, sometimes known as the hitokiri's Ponytail, or assassin's ponytail. She stood, staring at the ground in front of the Imperial Official, carefully leveling her choices. At last, she sighed, and said as levelly as she could "Fine, I'll go. But why Amestris?"

The Imperial Officer frowned. "I guess I must tell you, as it is part of this mission," he sighed, "Amestris is gaining too much power, and it's largely due to the many skilled State Alchemists they have. If many of these alchemists were mysteriously killed, they would lose power without knowing we were to blame. They are rival alchemists, and our enemies. Kill them all at will!" The Officer finished his brief and dramatic speech.

Miyaki sighed yet again. "I still see no reason to your actions, or why I should even obey your orders. You are not my clan leader."

The Imperial Officer's face grew tight with rage. "Because your clan leader is dead, we have defeated your clan, and you're my slave now!"

Miyaki took his rampage unflinchingly, her face showing no emotion. As the Imperial Officer glared down at her, he signaled to one of his servants, who brought a lacquer box to him. "I know you were about to ask how I would be able to control you if you went to Amestris. Well, this is your answer." He took out what looked like shackles for a prisoner's neck, wrists, and ankles, which they turned out to be almost exactly. Having some more servants force these on Miyaki, he triumphantly explained that these shackles bound her to his will, and that she had no choice but to obey. To erase the skepticism about this, he ordered her to try and do the opposite of what he said to. When he told her to bow down before him, Miyaki tried to stand up, but was somehow forced on her knees. Tests similar to these were run several times, until the Imperial Officer felt that Miyaki's skepticism had been obliterated.

"Be a good girl, and kill as many State Alchemists as possible. And remember, I've always got my eye on you, I'm always in control." the Imperial Officer said, talking to Miyaki's back as she regained her weapons from the servants at the door and left.

That's the prologue, which is probably why it's not that long of a chapter. Please review! Oh, and if you're wondering about Miyaki's robes, look at Rurouni Kenshin's Makimachi Misao or Tales of Symphonia's Fujibayashi Sheena, they're wearing said robes.


	2. Chapter 2

"Well, Al, we've finally got a lead!" Ed exclaimed excitedly, walking out of Colonel Mustang's office.

"Really? That's great, Nii-san!" Al said brightly, following his brother out of East Headquarters.

"We've got to get our tickets fast," Ed said, breaking off at a run for the ticket booth, "Sarath is a busy city, and even my pocket watch isn't a match for the sellout of tickets." Reaching the booth and having to stand on tiptoe so that he could be visible to the teller over the unreasonably five-foot-tall counter, he somehow managed to flash his pocket watch as he asked for two tickets to Sarath. The teller, who was squinting through his tiny glasses at what seemed to be an antennae of blonde hair and a pair of sometimes-visible golden eyes, seemed a bit skeptical at first, but after Ed huffily stated who he was, and that the boy matched the rumors of the Fullmetal Alchemist, the tickets were finally granted. As Ed's hand grasped the two pieces of paper, a train whistle sounded. "C'mon, Al, that's our train!" Ed yelled to his brother, who was kneeling next to a box full of meowing. Reluctantly, Al got up from the box, running after his brother, who was sprinting to the soon departing train at record speeds.

The brothers burst into the stuffed cars of the train just as it left the station. The crowded masses pulsed and moved to a beat all their own, and soon the brothers were separated. "Nii-san, where are you? I can't find you, there are too many people!" Al squeaked; even the massive form of his suit of armor was being pushed around like a toothpick on the sea. It didn't take him long to find his elder brother; across the car he heard the fatal words of "Oh sorry, shortstuff, didn't see you there!"

Al barely had time to think 'oh no' before the inevitable happened: Ed's arms flailing so hard he almost began to fly and hover in the air, as he began yet another of his infamous "I'M NOT SHORT" rampages. He didn't get the chance to let loose on the unsuspecting and busy crowd, however, as Al somehow found a ten second route to reach and restrain him.

"Nii-san, please!" Al groaned, "this isn't necessary!"

"Al, let go! This is totally necessary!" Ed snarled.

"No, I won't! You're being childish again!" Al retorted. This struggle went on for quite a while, as the end of it came as they were pushed out of the car and onto the platform at Sarath.

"Aah, I'm hungry!" Ed moaned. Al sighed at this. "You shouldn't have been so hyperactive on the train, then. It would have saved you a lot of energy, and you would therefore not be so hungry.

"Can we stop talking logic and start talking food?" Ed grumbled, nearly getting himself trampled by a swarm of people. He was pushed around in the crowds, as the city was like a larger version of the train car: crowded, busy, and noisy. Ed finally got relief from the pushing and shoving when he was pushed into a restaurant, which was, quite coincidentally, the most famous restaurant in town. An obscene amount of money was soon spent on an equally obscene amount of food, paid again by the watch glinting in the sunlight. Many eyes traveled to the pocket watch; some apprehensive, some awed, some indescribable, though none were concentrating on the blonde boy with the symbol of power more so than two pairs of eyes, one peeking through a window of the two alleyways surrounding the restaurant.

Ed stepped out of the restaurant ahead of his brother, and was surprised to find that the streets had suddenly cleared. "What the--? Where is everybody?" he asked the silence.

"Maybe they have a curfew enacted for some reason?" Al suggested.

"No, something's going on," Ed replied, "they always talk about Sarath's night life, which is supposed to be even busier than the day—and this is a ghost town."

"Hmm…now that you mention it, everyone cleared out pretty quickly while we were in there…in fact, it was right after you showed your pocketwatch."

Ed stared at his younger brother. "But why would they clear the town just because of one State Alchemist?"

"Ah, so you're the State Alchemist who has graced this town?" a voice said from down the street. A man was walking towards the brothers: tall, with a pencil moustache, top hat, and crisp tuxedo. He held a cane, which he twirled around expertly, a monocle, and even a handkerchief tucked in his pocket.

"Who are you?" Ed asked of the man.

"Why, I am the mayor of this town, of course, Mayor Bimblebee," the man said.

Ed coughed suddenly, trying desperately not to laugh at the name. "Mayor Bimble-what?"

"Mayor Bimblebee. Yes, it is a strange name, I know, but it is mine."

Ed looked at the mayor. Something wasn't right about him, but he couldn't figure out what. Cautiously, he inquired "Where are all of the people?"

A malicious grin appeared on the mayor's face. "Well, there was an accident, and now there are fifteen dead."

Ed had a feeling of dread that the grin he was witnessing reminded him of someone he'd rather not be reminded of. "What's with the grin?"

The Mayor recovered quickly from his strange behavior. "Oh, I'm just going a little insane with all of the stress. Forgive me, I must be off." Bimblebee tipped his top hat, smiling a little oddly, and started walking off.

"Well, that was weird..." Ed said, turning around to start on his own way, and coming face to face with another strange person: a person with strange purple clothes, black hair tied in a bun, and a strange, leering mask covering their face. When this person spoke, their voice was muffled.

"You are the State Alchemist of Amestris in town, I presume?" the voice said, looking at Edward, a change from the normal misconception of Al being the State Alchemist of the pair. Ed noticed this, and so, very proudly, nodded and said yes.

Sighing, the person said "Your arrogance will be the end of you; be careful." They turned around, walking with difficulty down the road, opposite the way of Bimblebee's departure.

"Hey, that person…are they an escaped convict?" Al asked, suddenly apprehensive.

"Why would you ask a question like that?" Ed stared at his brother, unable to comprehend this sudden strange behavior.

"Shackles…" Al pointed to the ostentatiously glinting chains on the stranger's body.

i MIYAKI! /i The voice roared inside of her head, nearly bringing the girl to her knees. She thought an answer straight back to him, muttering it for extra strength. "Get out of my head, you bastard."

i What did you do to defy me? /i 

"You never told me a direct order about him. Besides, he's only a year older than me. Give him a break."

i A year older than you, so what? He's Amestris' prodigy, Miyaki! Just as you are the prodigy of our country, though you escaped having to serve royalty such as myself because you were always protected-- /i 

"You have no right to speak of that!" Miyaki's voice rose in anger, echoing around the alleyway she had just entered.

i You have no right to order me around! /i the voice of the Imperial Officer cleared its throat.

i Anyway, you remember the boy's face, correct? /i 

"No."

i What do you mean, no! You're lying! /i 

"Actually, I'm not. This mask inhibits visibility so that it's annoyingly hard to even see where you're going, and I had to deal with you yelling at me the whole time, so I wasn't concentrating on looking, and didn't see his face."

i Well, you remember his voice, you have a good memory. Now go and kill him! That's my order. /i 

Miyaki had reached the end of the alleyway, about to leap to the rooftops. Her plan of disappointing the Imperial Officer by failing to kill a State Alchemist, as well as degrading him by overpowering his will, was foiled in that instant, as the potential energy she was about to use to jump was instead used to turn around and return to the Fullmetal Alchemist.

"Who was that?" a voice asked from behind Alphonse. Both boys whirled around to face Mayor Bimblebee, who was staring at the retreating figure with a keen, almost angry, eye.

"I don't know. Some stranger talking about arrogance leading to death or something," Ed replied, unconcerned by what had seemed to be a warning.

"You don't say," Bimblebee said, a shockingly familiar sadistically sarcastic tone in his voice. Ed picked up on this tone at once, and stared in shock as the truth hit him. Al looked at his brother, who was staring, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, at the Mayor.

"Nii-san, that's rude!" he hissed, tapping his brother on the shoulder.

Ed scowled. "Why should I care about my manners towards him?" he snapped, gesturing rudely towards the object of his shock, and now rage.

"What in the heavens are you talking about?" Bimblebee asked, seeming genuinely shocked.

"Stop playing, Envy!" Ed yelled.

Bimblebee smirked, and in a flash, was gone. Before the Elrics was, as Ed had deduced, Envy.

"Aah! It i is /i Envy!" Al squeaked, his fear of the psychotic Homunculus showing.  
"Aww, your terror is flattering, thank you," Envy said cruelly, formally bowing.

"You should do a curtsy, you bastard," Ed growled.

"You should shut up, pip-squeak," Envy retorted silkily, "angering me only means trouble for you."

Ed kept his glare, but as he knew Envy wasn't just wasting air. If he really wanted to, both he and his younger brother would be dead. His eyes and Envy's were locked on each other in a hateful glare, neither party daring to move. This seemed to be a contest of endurance, so Ed was shocked when Envy shifted his gaze to behind Edward. Ed, too, looked, seeing the same strange masked figure from before.

The figure seemed to be different; moving with almost a mechanical, robotic quality, and when speech came out, it was as though the words were being forced through their lips.

"Alchemist of the State, prepare yourself for death!"

Ed couldn't help but stare. "What?" he asked, genuinely shocked by such a blatant announcement.

"I said…argh…" the figure seemed to change. "Just…get out of here before I'm forced to kill you!"

The figure was having an internal conflict; that much was certain. But now Envy decided to add a conflict of his own to the mix.

"Sorry, but he's mine to kill!" Envy snarled, regarding the figure with mild curiosity. With a sudden thought, he added "and what kind of coward of a man are you, to say you'll kill someone without even showing your face? I'm sure your shaking from your own comment!" Without any further ado, he leapt to snatch the mask off and reveal the person's face. Therefore he was rather shocked when his hand met nothing but air, and the figure was on the ground behind him, drawing a transmutation array. They put a dagger from their sleeve on it, transmuted it, and threw it at Envy, who was caught in a sudden explosion.

Ed watched the figure with interest, even though they had just threatened his life. He had never seen that kind of circle before, and found it very intriguing. Al stood behind his brother, nervous and unsure of what to think. Both boys tensed when the figure faced them. "I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused," it said, surprising them yet again. "I really don't want to kill you, but I'm kind of stuck with the wishes of another," they held up their shackled wrists. "However, I will not object to your consequences of my actions, it is my fault that my will is not strong enough to withstand his."

The figure seemed not to notice Envy sneaking up behind them, anger on his face, and arm changed so that it was holding a blade. When he was within a few inches of the figure, and tensed, ready to strike, he was again shocked by a kunai knocking the blade out of his hand, and, and instant later, a sword at his throat. "Do not underestimate me because I am merely a young i kunoichi /i ," they said.

"Kuno-what-eey?" Envy said, totally confused.

Sighing, the figure slashed their own mask with their dagger, letting it fall to the ground. All three men around them gasped, as they discovered that it was a woman that had been speaking.

"Kunoichi," the girl repeated, "a female ninja. And I'm also an alchemist," she added, gesturing to the faint array left on the ground, smudged beyond use. Withdrawing her weapons, she took a few steps away from the stunned boys. Ed was standing in the middle, separating his younger brother from Envy. She turned to Ed, having known he was the State Alchemist, and bowed.

"Again, please excuse me for the inconvenience I have caused you," she said, standing up, seeing his face for the first time, as she couldn't see through the mask, which had no holes. Her eyes widened slightly; taking a few steps away from him, she turned away so nobody would see that she was tearing up.

"Oh my god," she whispered in disbelief, "those eyes…that hair…everything but the height…"

Hearing her mention 'height', Ed rounded on her. "What about my height?" he snapped instinctively.

Turning around, he stepped back, unsure of what to say to her tears.

"You look just like him…just like Oniichan…" she sniffled.


End file.
